Chapter 8

Designing and executing a score concordance study to establish score mapping to proficiency levels

The TOEFL ProPlacer® test is a multistage adaptive test (MST) designed to rapidly distinguish among learners at different proficiency levels and to place them into English instruction courses that best suit their learning needs. The project reported in this chapter aimed to establish the mapping of the TOEFL ProPlacer scores to the CEFR levels through comparison with the scores of another test in the TOEFL® Family, the TOEFL ITP® test, whose scores had already been linked to the CEFR levels. 1,013 test takers were recruited to complete both tests in a counterbalanced design. Using the equipercentile method, we examined the CEFR cutoff scores on the TOEFL ITP score scale and identified the corresponding cutoff scores on the TOEFL ProPlacer score scale. The proposed cutoff scores were then evaluated using TOEFL ITP and TOEFL ProPlacer operational test data to check for reasonableness and consistency. The current study demonstrates a useful application of establishing CEFR mapping of the scores of a language test though the CEFR mapping of the scores of another language test. In some contexts, such an application may be more feasible than conducting a standard setting study with a panel of experts, and therefore useful in that it can facilitate the interpretation of test scores through their association to the CEFR levels. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.